Three of my colleagues who also took the exam already got email messages this weekend congratulating them. I did not receive any…bummer, I thought. But checking the Certiport and MCP sites showed me that I also passed.
Information on my MCP member site:
On my Certiport member site:
In my search for a PowerShell warmup script for a SP2010 farm I found two blogs with scripts. I did not have the opportunity yet to change the scripts to my liking but I did not want to wait blogging this. So here they are:
This script uses stsadm to hit the pages. All credits to http://kirkhofer.wordpress.com/2008/10/18/sharepoint-warm-up-script/
function get-webpage([string]$url,[System.Net.NetworkCredential]$cred=$null)
{
$wc = new-object net.webclient
if($cred -eq $null)
{
$cred = [System.Net.CredentialCache]::DefaultCredentials;
}
$wc.credentials = $cred;
return $wc.DownloadString($url);
}
#This passes in the default credentials needed. If you need specific stuff you can use something else to
#elevate basically the permissions. Or run this task as a user that has a Policy above all the Web Applications
#with the correct permissions
$cred = [System.Net.CredentialCache]::DefaultCredentials;
#$cred = new-object System.Net.NetworkCredential("username","password","machinename")
[xml]$x=stsadm -o enumzoneurls
foreach ($zone in $x.ZoneUrls.Collection) {
[xml]$sites=stsadm -o enumsites -url $zone.Default;
foreach ($site in $sites.Sites.Site) {
write-host $site.Url;
$html=get-webpage -url $site.Url -cred $cred;
}
}
The next script is completely PS. All credits to http://www.jonthenerd.com/2011/04/19/easy-sharepoint-2010-warmup-script-using-powershell/
Add-PSSnapin Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell;
function Get-WebPage([string]$url)
{
$wc = new-object net.webclient;
$wc.credentials = [System.Net.CredentialCache]::DefaultCredentials;
$pageContents = $wc.DownloadString($url);
$wc.Dispose();
return $pageContents;
}
Get-SPAlternateUrl -Zone Default | foreach-object {
write-host $_.IncomingUrl;
$html = Get-WebPage -url $_.IncomingUrl;
}
Tags: powershell, SP2010
An hour ago I have finished the beta exam 77-886 MOS SharePoint 2010. It was not that hard. I got all 87 questions. There were a lot of simulation questions and a few multiple choice.
Mainly the questions were about managing lists and libraries, web parts, my site, search and also parts of central administration.
Here you can find the print out of my score report (click to view):
Hopefully I’ll receive the final score soon.
I first read about the beta exam at this Born to Learn blogpost.
The Microsoft Learning site concerning this exam can be found here.
All Certiport Test Centers for the SharePoint beta exam are in this PDF document. More details can be asked at the Certiport beta coordinator (betacoordinator (at) certiport.com).
Please come back later. I shall update this post shortly.
========= UPDATE =========
Centric NL mailed me back that taking the test in their Diemen based test center is possible. But with JSR (www.jsr.nl) I made an appointment that I will take the test in their test center in Zoetermeer. Probably next monday, May 23.
Certiport also indicated that Compu’train is able to host the exam in Utrecht.
I received an email from the Beta Coordinator at Certiport:
Hi Marc,
I have reached out to a few centers in your area to see if they are willing to proctor the exam for you. I will let you know if they are able to participate. In the meantime, you are welcome to contact them yourself to see if they are willing to let you come to their site for the beat of this new online exam.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Thanks,
Stacey
So, there is hope for all SharePoint users in the Netherlands who would love to try this beta exam.
I have send an email myself to all Microsoft Office 2010 testcenters mentioned on the website of Certiport:
Aegolius
Broekhuis training groep
Centric
Compu’train
Hogeschool Rotterdam
JSR
Recently I read, like a lot of you, about the new beta exam 77-886. But unfortunately for all Dutch SharePoint users there are no test centers on the list.
So I have send an email to the Beta Coordinator about this and asking her if any centers in the Netherlands will participate.
I received this answer:
Thank you for your interest in the SharePoint beta. I have included the candidate profile below. I would be happy to have you participate in the beta. We would need to contact a Certiport Authorized Testing Center in your area to see if they are willing to participate. Do you have one that you normally use? Please advise.
Thanks,
Stacey
SharePoint 2010 Beta
May 18th through June 1st
(Please be aware that May 28-30th is Memorial Day Weekend in the US)
SharePoint 2010 Beta Candidate Profile
· Participants must be a native English speaker, even if not living in an English-speaking country. The BETA exam will only be offered in English.
· Participants must have 3 - 6 months experience using SharePoint.
· Candidates for this exam are users who provide structure for information, extend out-of-the-box site features, solve business problems through composite applications, and facilitate collaboration with other site users.
· Participants are users who perform all site user tasks. They optimize Web Part pages for team use by adding and configuring Web Parts from the Web Part gallery. They customize dashboards to target the information presented. Users focus on adapting SharePoint sites to their teams’ needs and improving productivity.
· The user typically:
ü Uses Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, and Visio 2010 at an intermediate or advanced level.
ü Collaborates frequently with other users on their team and throughout the enterprise.
ü Uses search tools proficiently on intranets or the Internet.
ü Optimizes the working environment for efficiency.
· The participant is NOT an Administrator, but does configure and use personal and group space
Skills Measured
http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/Exam.aspx?ID=77-886&Locale=en-us#tab2
I have answered with some testing center names in the Netherlands. I will keep you informed about any progress.
During BPCUK I have taken pictures of all speakers of the sessions I attended. Also some pictures of London and the stands. For more pictures go to the photo album on my facebook page.
Steve Smith and “The Queen”
Rick Taylor
Mike FitzMaurice
Tags: Best Practices, Bpcuk, photos, SP2010
Started today with Agnes Molnar’s session about document sets. Not so much a deep dive as I hoped. Sawn some nice things but nothing spectacular.
Continued with Michael Noel about Planning extranet environments with SharePoint 2010. A lot of info about FIM and UAG architecture. Tip: use UAG instead of SharePoint authentication. Interesting session.
Third session of the day that I visited was about Building Effective Dashboards Using the Business Intelligence Toolkit of SharePoint 2010 by Mark Macrae.
After lunch, again good food, I went to Steve Smiths session about load testing. Interesting even for me a non-developer. He told how to make loadtests in VS2010 and with Fiddler.
The last session slot I have skipped. I was a bit tired and had to leave in time to Heathrow.
Tags: Best Practices, Bpcuk, SP2010
Yesterday evening we had SharePint in The Old Star near the Conference Center. A lot of visitors and a lot of beer!
I started today with Rick Taylor about Identity Management. Tip: when to use FIM (Forefront Identity Management) which is not working with a lot of SharePoint products or SharePoint FIM, which is, but is not a full blown FIM.
Second session of the day was Mike FitzMaurice and the state machine workflow. Good speaker, lots of jokes and even posed so I could take a picture :-). State machines in VS2010, hacks in Nintex…the presentation had all. Nice demo’s to support his story too.
After a long lunch break I went to Christina Wheeler and Bret Lonsdale. This session was about content aggregation. One of the tips from this session is that aggregation of SharePoint calendars is limited to 10 calendars.
Bill English was the next speaker in a fully loaded room. The guy is popular and for a reason. He has a good story.
Last session of the day was InfoPath best practices by Laura Rogers.
Tomorrow is the last day of the Conference. Today the sessions I followed were very good; I hope this will continue on the last day.
Tags: Best Practices, Bpcuk, SP2010
An exciting first day at the SharePoint Best Practices Conference in London.
Today I followed sessions of Brad Smith, Laura Rogers, Gary Lapointe, Darvish Shadravan and Stuart Cochrane & Mark Stokes.
Laura Rogers was nice (her session also 
). Good info about DVWP, XSLT and conditional formatting.
Gary did a very good session I think. I learned a lot about useful PS commands. I.e. the percentage sign = the Foreach command.
Darvish Shadravan showed some good examples of infopath forms combined with SPD workflows. Good presenter, lots of jokes.
Stuart Cochrane & Mark Stokes did the last session of day that I followed. This one was about SharePoint Governance overview.
I think the next two days will be as exciting as this day. I’ll keep you posted.
Tags: Best Practices, Bpcuk, SP2010
